October 19 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 74 days remaining.
Events 202 BC - Battle of Zama, resulting in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal. 439 - The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa. 1781 - Major General Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington and Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown, Virginia, ending the American Revolutionary War. 1812 - Napoleon I of France retreats from Moscow. 1864 - Battle of Cedar Creek - Union Army under Philip Sheridan destroys Confederate Army under Jubal Early. 1864 - Confederate raiders launch an attack on Saint Albans, Vermont from Canada. 1873 - Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Rutgers universities draft the first code of American football rules. 1912 - Italy takes possession of Tripoli, Libya from the Ottoman Empire. 1917 - Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened. 1933 - Germany withdraws from the League of Nations. 1944 - United States forces land in the Philippines. 1954 - First ascent of Cho Oyu. 1960 - Mauretania gains independence from France. 1973 - President Richard Nixon rejects an Appeals Court demand to turn over the Watergate tapes. 1982 - John DeLorean arrested for trafficking in cocaine. 1987 - In retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy disables three of Iran's offshore oil platforms. 1987 - (Black Monday) Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%. Births 1784 - John McLoughlin, Hudson's Bay Company Factor 1885 - Charles Merrill, investment banker († 1956) 1899 - Miguel Angel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, Nobel laureate († 1974) 1907 - Roger Wolfe Kahn, band leader († 1962) 1910 - Jean Genet, author († 1986) 1918 - Louis Althusser, French Marxist philosopher 1922 - Jack Anderson, political columnist 1931 - John Le Carré, novelist 1932 - Robert Reed, actor († 1992) 1935 - Tony Lo Bianco, actor 1937 - Peter Max, pop artist 1944 - Peter Tosh, musician 1945 - Divine (Glen Milstead), actor († 1988) 1945 - John Lithgow, actor 1947 - Giorgio Cavazzano, comics artist and illustrator 1951 - Patricia Ireland, President of the National Organization for Women 1962 - Evander Holyfield, boxing champion 1966 - Jon Favreau, actor, writer, director 1969 - Trey Parker, cartoonist, comedian, writer, actor 1972 - Pras, musician 1973 - Jeremy Jordan, actor, singer Deaths 1745 - Jonathan Swift, author 1889 - King Louis of Portugal 1943 - Camille Claudel, French sculptor 1950 - Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet 1973 - Walt Kelly, cartoonist 1987 - Jacqueline Du Pre, cellist 1988 - Son House, blues musician 1994 - Martha Raye, comedienne, actress 2003 - Faith Fancher, television journalist and breast cancer awareness activist Holidays Roman Empire - Armilustrium in honor of Mars Niue - Constitution Day in honour of the country's independence (self-governing in free association with New Zealand) in 1974. See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
October 18 - October 20 - November 19 - September 19 - more historical anniversaries